Teachers in our schools and early childhood programs need help — lots of help.

We’re talking help from businesses, churches, city agencies, community centers and anyplace with space, resources and a willingness to work together in navigating the logistical nightmare ahead of us.

There’s only so much Finn the Fox can do against a pandemic.

A new partnership between Operation Breakthrough, Crossroads Charter School and the DeLaSalle Education Center is opening space for 200 more children for summer school. New jobs are also being created. Learn more and make application by clicking here.

The hand puppet wears a mask, tied on by teacher Lyn Day, as they greet the children in Day’s class of infants and toddlers at Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City.

These are the kinds of things schools can do, said Operation Breakthrough director Mary Esselman.

Teachers and counselors can comfort children, exaggerating brightness in their eyes and joy in their eyebrows to overcome the shroud of their masks.

They can teach air hugs and hand-washing. They can master complicated schedules and movements, keeping small classes separated. They can work longer hours to limit the need for changing shifts during the long day from morning drop-off to evening pick-up.

But they can’t help every child as long as anti-virus safety measures limit the number of children they can bring inside.

And they can’t escape the uncertainty — despite so much precaution — of another positive virus test like the one that compelled the early childhood center to close for five days in early April without alternatives for the parents who rely on the center.

“We had parents in tears,” Esselman said. “Some families have no support and if they can’t leave us their child, they can’t work.”

“It’s devastating if we close.”

School administrators and childhood programmers across Kansas City are steering into a perfect storm as a broken summer for education raises the stakes now and for the critical fall semester ahead.

There will not be enough space to accommodate all the learning that needs to happen. Schools may have to stagger classes to keep the number small enough to be safe. Having children out of school in alternating groups will continue the mounting hardship on families since schools shut down in March.

Digital learning, despite important gains by districts and non-profits like Connecting for Good in getting more homes digitally connected, remains inequitable learning.

“There are going to be huge learning gaps,” Esselman said. “Catching up is hard, and we’ve only got one shot.”

The need for partnerships in creative space-sharing and staffing is urgent.

Turn the Page KC, the non-profit champion of early childhood literacy, sounded the alarms in a recent report warning of a “summer childcare crisis” that threatens to further unmoor families and cripple academic success in the coming school year.

The scarcity of space for safe programming is washing away many of the opportunities families have had for low-cost or free educational and recreational summer programs.

There was already concern over the number of seats available — for instance, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kansas City figured they would have to cut summer enrollment from 1,200 to 400.

Then, late last week, the Upper Room’s summer program announced it would not be able to provide even a reduced enrollment. The Upper Room uses other entities’ facilities, mostly churches, and the potential program hosts were proving to be too nervous over safety concerns.

Families, Turn the Page’s report said, are facing “devastating choices” between going to work, or staying home with their children, or finding someone or some place to babysit their children.

The logistics and costs of creating, sharing and staffing new educational and recreational spaces safely is daunting.

But “we can do this,” insists Rod Hsiao, the chief executive officer of InPlay, an online service for families seeking affordable out-of-school-time programs.

The question, he said, is a matter of “how.”

The impact of coronavirus on the spring and summer school sessions means “the need for expanded learning has never been greater,” Hsiao said in a recent roundtable discussion on the challenges to education programmers.

“We have the same goal,” he said, “and will have to stretch to see what we can do for each other outside normal boundaries.”

It will take “collaboration and silo-busting,” he said.

School districts need to look to joint projects with businesses and park districts and bus systems to improve use of time and resources, said roundtable participant Chris Hand, director of assessment, evaluation and testing at Liberty Public Schools.

“We can’t underestimate the risk of standing still,” Hand said. And “most people overestimate the risk of trying something new.”

It is important to develop safe plans for bringing students back into their school community, not only for stronger education but for their “social and emotional health,” he said. “Putting people back to work,” he said, “brings hope for our community.”

Schools and partner educational programs will need expanded space and more staff in collaborative efforts to provide childcare. They will need more funds and shared transportation plans to get them there, and funds for protective equipment and thermometers. Certified staff will be spread more widely, with small student-to-teacher ratios, and that will bring more costs.

But it can happen. It needs to take shape quickly.

And Operation Breakthrough on May 26 announced a partnership with Crossroads Charter School and DeLaSalle Education Center to open education space this summer for 200 more children — demonstrating how these collaborations can happen.

DeLaSalle’s building at 3737 Troost Ave. will allow Operation Breakthrough to expand its face-to-face summer school programming for children entering the first through sixth grades for the coming school year, while Crossroads will focus on remote learning for families who wish to keep their children home. The school will run from June 8 through July 31.

The expansion is also creating jobs.

Operation Breakthrough is adding 46 jobs for teachers, learning assistants, support staff, receptionists, and cooks. There will be a job fair May 28 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 3036 Troost Ave. Application can also be made online at https://www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.php/jobs?clientkey=884BBEB2333B6462B64D1758E1635FB2

The momentum toward more programming needs to mount in the days ahead.

“We cannot overlook the tough decisions and challenges parents must face,” concludes Turn the Page KC’s crisis report. “Kansas City kids cannot afford a lost summer.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer